MEPs: More research money needed for sustainable farming

The sustainability of agriculture, rather than its intensification and industrialisation, should be a focus of the Sixth and Seventh Research Framework Programmes. This is the message of an own-initiative report drafted by Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf (Greens/EFA, Germany), which the Parliament adopted on 11 February 2004.

Following the mid-term CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) reform decisions, MEPs are calling for a redistribution of research funds to benefit studies on rural development, consumer protection, the environmental and social aspects of agriculture and animal welfare standards. "Increased research funding and appropriately targeted research can boost innovation in the field of ecologically compatible farming and sustainable rural development," reads the report.

The 16 billion euro Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) allocates a maximum of two per cent to agriculture and rural development. MEPs maintain that this level is too low, given that agriculture today has a function which goes beyond the mere production of food.

The report criticises the Commission's current agriculture research priorities, which is considered to focus too much on the development of new technologies for rationalising food production, processing and packaging, rather than on the sustainable use of natural resources. MEPs estimate that a large amount of innovative potential which lies in sustainable agriculture and organic farming is wasted because of a lack of research into the field.

With this in mind, the report also calls on governments to promote the development of ecologically compatible farming to ensure that a 'healthy nature', a 'healthy landscape' and a 'healthy environment' can be secured on a solid economic basis, in addition to the commodity 'healthy food'.